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CITIZEN'S APPEAL 



IN REGAKD TO THE 



WAR WITH MEXICO. 



A LECTURE 



DELIVERED AT LYCEUM HALL, LYNN, 



JANUARY 16, 1848, 



By CHARLES C. SHACKFORD. 



BOSTON: 
PRINTED BY ANDREWS & PRENTISS, 

No. 11 Devonshire Street. 

1848. 



CITIZEN'S APPEAL 



IN REGARD TO THE 



lA 



WAR WITH MEXICO. 

A LECTURE, 

DELIVERED AT LYCEUM HALL, LYNN, 

JANUARY 16, 1848, 



By CHARLES C. SHACKFORD. 



BOSTON: 

PRINTED BY ANDREWS & PRENTISS, 

No. 11 Devonshire Street. 

1848. 



LECTURE. 



I TAKE as the subject of my Lecture the " War 
with Mexico," because it is, at present, the subject 
which should engage our attention. It is the question 
of our country, in which its prosperity is most con- 
cerned. And 1 take it, moreover, because there is a 
disposition very generally manifest, to leave this sub- 
ject exclusively to professed politicians, when these 
politicians themselves take their tone from the people, 
and are but the echoes of public sentiment. 

Hence it would be to lose all moral influence, for 
us to be quiet and silent, leaving to them the exclusive 
consideration of this great question. God be thanked, 
that there is yet left some little appearance of freedom, 
and that our public affairs have not yet fallen to the 
absolute disposal of a few, with no opportunity for the 
rest to send forth remonstrance and rebuke. If, then, 
it be true that office-holders are not our masters, but 
rather the servants of public opinion ; if they are but 
the hands to execute our work, and the mouth-pieces 
to express our thoughts, it belongs to each one to let 
his thought and work be known. Each one is to take 
heed that he shall do something towards giving a high, 
pure, and Christian tone to the opinion of that circle, 



4 



however small it may be, in which he moves ; so that, 
finally, all the many streamlets shall converge to one 
centre, and thus shall fertilize and bless the whole 
country. 

It sometimes happens in the private history of an 
indvidual, that when he begins to congratulate himself 
upon his exalted state, the ground shakes beneath him, 
and he falls an easy victim to some sin or passion, 
which he thought he had escaped. The mist envel- 
opes him, and shuts out the sunlight. And so it is 
with a people. We, to-day, exemphfy the fact in our 
own history. We, who have boasted so much of the 
wisdom and philanthropy of our times, who began 
to speak of war as the relic of barbarous ages, and 
flattered ourselves that we were removed from the 
dangers of foreign war, despotic armies, and a resort 
to sword and cannon ; we, who hoped that the reign 
of force, and the day of the bloody warrior, was well 
nigh over; that the peaceful kingdom of industry, 
science, arts, schools, commerce, justice, and love had 
begun to dawn, and would speedily culminate into the 
full brightness of noon ; who were nurtured in abhor- 
rence of foreign war, and thought we had opened a 
fairer career of progress than any of the old nations, 
weakened and worn out by their very conquests ; we, 
who looked upon a national war as an impossibility, 
have had our pleasing dream dispelled. The shadows 
are about us, and a dense cloud envelopes every 
object. 

We are engaged in a war of conquest. All the re- 
sources of our nation for to-day and many days to 
come, are applied to inflict the horrors of war upon a 
neighboring people. We are recorded in the book of 
history, as the murderers of thousands whose only 



crime was living upon their native soil. We have 
sent thousands of our brethren to die by the sword 
and pestilence, to stain their hands in blood, to be 
trained in the school of abject slavery, to stifle con- 
science and the thought of better things, to forget 
their humanity and the sweet influences of a mother's 
prayer, to learn the trade of vengeance and destruc- 
tion. We have caused to ascend the orphan's cry 
and the widow's wail. We have sacked cities, over- 
turned the pursuits of peace, and used our wealth, 
science, means and men, for war upon a foreign soil. 

Truly is this matter the question of to-day ; and the 
question not of politicians merely, but of every indi- 
vidual who has heart, or thought, or conscience. It 
is a question which should torment each one of us, 
until it is answered, how we shall do our part towards 
right and justice ; how, whatever evils may befal, we 
may feel that our consciences are free from blame. 
Not yet in our country are the governed one caste, 
and the governors another. While therefore we are 
all interested, we are all responsible. In the name of 
the people, of which we are a part, is this war waged. 
To the extent, therefore, of our acquiescence by 
silence, by indifference, by a let-alone-policy, are we 
really guilty. 

About twelve years ago, when the idea of the an- 
nexation of Texas to the United States was derided by 
men of all parties, as would be the idea of the annex- 
ation of Botany Bay, — when the Politicians were 
asleep and saw no signs of the approaching evil, — 
there proceeded from one who was regarded by them 
as a mere Dreamer and Theorist, and was directed to 
stick to his trade of preaching from the pulpit, a word 
which was a voice of prophecy, so literally has it been 



fulfilled. At that time Dr. Channing wrote his letter 
to Henry Clay " On the Annexation of Texas to the 
United States," a letter which, like the warning of all 
prophets, fell upon deaf and incredulous ears. In this 
letter he says, " By this act, our country will enter on 
a career of encroachment, war, and crime, and will 
merit and incur the punishment and woe of wrong- 
doing. The seizure of Texas will not stand alone. 
It will darken our future history. It will be linked by 
an iron necessity to long continued deeds of rapine 
and blood. Texas is a country conquered by our 
citizens ; and the annexation of it to our Union, will 
be the beginning of conquests, which unless arrested 
and beaten back by a just and kind Providence, loill 
stop only at the Isthmus of Darien. Henceforth, we 
must cease to cry, peace, peace. Our Eagle ivill 
ivhet, not gorge its appetite on its first victim ; and will 
snufF a more tempting quarry, more alluring blood, in 
every new region which opens southward. To annex 
Texas is to declare perpetual war with Mexico. 
Texas is the first step to Mexico. The moment we 
plant our authority on Texas, the boundaries of these 
two countries will become nominal, will be little more 
than lines on the sand of the sea-shore. Can Mexico 
look without alarm on the approaches of this ever- 
growing tide ? Is she prepared to be a passive prey ? 
to shrink and surrender without a struggle ? Is she 
not strong in her hatred, if not in her fortresses and 
skill ? Strong enough to make war a dear and bloody 
game ? Even were the dispositions of our govern- 
ment most pacific and opposed to encroachment, the 
annexation of Texas would almost certainly embroil 
us with Mexico. Have we counted the cost of estab- 
lishing and making perpetual these hostile relations 



with Mexico ? Will wars, begun in rapacity, carried 
on so far from the centre of the confederation, and of 
consequence, little checked or controlled by Congress, 
add strength to our institutions, or cement our union, 
or exert a healthy moral influence on rulers or people ? 
What limits can be set to the atrocities of such con- 
flicts ? What limits to the treasures which must be 
lavished on such distant borders ? What limits to the 
patronage and power, which such distant expeditions 
7nust accumulate in the hands of the Executive ? Are 
the blood and hard-earned wealth of the older States 
to be poured out like water, to protect and revenge 
a new people, whose character and condition will 
plunge them into perpetual wrongs ? " 

These words have now become historical Fact. 
They contain the whole explanation of the war in 
which we are now engaged. They were based on 
a knowledge of the essential principles of human 
nature, a keen perception of the realities of national 
character, and proceeded from one who wrote free 
from the bias of party and political ambition, whose 
finer instincts were ahve to the influences at work in 
the moral world of causes. 

But no one beUeved in the necessity of the warning. 
One year passed after another, and the advocates of 
this measure were pursuing their work, operating 
stealthily and steadily. No party dared to advocate 
the measure of Annexation. As is well known, our 
Massachusetts Legislature in 1843 protested against it 
in the strongest terms, and both Whigs and Democrats 
united in the protest. The Cabinet of Van Buren, 
when Texas first applied in 1837, to be admitted into 
the Union, were unanimous in rejecting the proposal. 
Mr. Forsyth, the Secretary of State, thus replied : 



8 



" So long as Texas shall remain at war, while the 
United States are at peace with her adversary, the 
proposition of the Texan Minister Plenipotentiary, 
necessarily involves the question of war ivith that 
adversary y And, again, in 1844, Mr. Van Buren 
wrote, " If, as sensible men, we cannot avoid the 
conclusion, that the immediate annexation of Texas 
would draw after it a war with Mexico, can it be ex- 
pedient to attempt it ? Could we hope to stand justi- 
fied in the eyes of mankind for entering into such a 
war ? More especially, if its commencement is to be 
preceded by the appropriation to our own uses of the 
territory, the sovereignty of which is in dispute between 
two nations, one of which we are to join in the strug- 
gle ? " And Henry Clay wrote at the same time, 
" Annexation and war with Mexico are identical^ And 
a large meeting at New York, composed of men of 
both parties, at the same time, unanimously adopted 
the following resolution, reported by a prominent 
Democrat : 

" Resolved, That the Annexation of Texas to this 
Union, as now contemplated, would, according to the 
acknowledged laws of nations, be a positive declaration 
of war against Mexico, a war of conquest and an 
unjust war, in which this nation would be supported 
by no sense of right, and be condemned by the unani- 
mous voice of the civilized and Christian world." 

AVhat else could be made of it ? Mexico was at 
war with Texas. We had an existing treaty with 
Mexico, then in full force, which stipulated, "that 
there should be a firm, inviolable, and universal peace, 
and a true and sincere friendship between ^he United 
States of America and the United Mexican States, in 
all the extent of their possessions." Now what can 



be said of the measure ol' incorporating, as a part 
of our territory, and thus adopting all her quarrels, a 
nation with which Mexico was at war, and which she 
claimed the right at any moment of invading. What 
if the Canadas had become separated from Great 
Britain, and we had thus incorporated the territory into 
our own? According to the law of nations, would 
not war have been inevitable with Great Britain ? 
Would this deed, think you, have been dared ? What 
if South Carolina had carried out her plan of nulli- 
fication, had thrown off all connexion with the United 
States, and war having followed, England had entered 
even into alliance with that State ; would not England 
have expected to go to war with our country, also ? 

It is, indeed, too plain a point to be argued ; and 
so Gen. Houston thought ; for he says very coolly in 
Congress, when the Senate was deliberating. May, 
1845, on the war message: " It is now too late to 
deliberate. Texas and Mexico have been long at war, 
and the United States became a party to that war, in 
consenting to annexation." Why, Gen. Jackson, in 
1836, even in regard to the minor point of acknowl- 
edging the Independence of Texas, says : " The ac- 
knowledgment of a new State as independent, is at 
all times an act of great delicacy and responsibility ; 
but more especially so^ when such a State has forcibly 
separated itself from another, which still claims do- 
minion over it. A premature recognition, under these 
circumstances, if not looked upon as justifiable cause 
of war, is always fiable to be looked upon as proof of 
an unfriendly spirit to one of the contending parties." 

But time passed on. The slave-power, headstrong, 
blind to all rights where its own prosperity was con- 
cerned, used to trample upon the rights of man, 



10 



nursed in oppression and force, this power was at 
work, and resolved upon annexation in spite of all 
danger, the law of nations, treaties, and protests. A 
new slave-market must be opened. Texas must be 
secured to us forever from becoming an independent, 
free State, or " our domestic institution " will be very 
short-lived. Mr. Upshur said in 1839, in the Virginia 
Convention, " If it should be our lot to acquire Texas, 
the price of slaves will rise." And when it was feared 
that Texas would abolish slavery, the Secretary of 
State, the same Mr. Upshur, in 1843, wrote to our 
Minister in Texas, " That the establishment in the 
very midst of our slaveholding States of an independ- 
ent government forbidding the existence of slavery, 
could not fail to produce the most unhappy effects. 
There could not be any security for that species of 
property.^'' And in 1844, he wrote to our Minister in 
England, " If Texas should not be attached to the 
United States, we cannot maintain that institution ten 
years." 

And so the slavery interest labored with dogged 
perseverance, caring little for reproach or opposition. 
Its work was aided by the cunning Texans, who 
played upon the fears, hopes, and ambition of the 
imbecile Tyler, — now talking of abolition, now of a 
union with England, all of which has been since con- 
fessed, by those most interested, to have been the 
veriest humbug and pretence. And when the treaty 
of Annexation with Texas was finally concluded, Mr. 
Calhoun, then Secretary of State, had the sublime 
audacity to write to Mr. Packenham, the British Min- 
ister, that " it was made necessary, in order to pre- 
serve domestic institutions, and deemed essential to 
their safety and prosperity. ^^ After this treat}' was re- 



1 



11 



jected by the Senate, as is well known, Texas was 
admitted by a " Joint Resolution," which passed the 
House on the 16th December, and the Senate on the 
22d December, 1845. She was admitted with a 
constitution sufficiently republican and just, to satisfy 
the most bigoted slave-driver of South Carolina. It 
provided that " all persons of color who were slaves 
for Hfe, should remain in the like state of servitude, 
and that Congress should pass no laws to prohibit 
emigrants from the United States of America, from 
bringing their slaves into the republic with them ; 
that Congress should have no power to emancipate 
slaves, and that no slaveholder should be allowed to 
emancipate his or her slaves ; and that no free person 
of African descent should be permitted to reside perma- 
nently in the republic." Such was the precious jewel 
which we took from Mexico. But in saying this I 
wrong Mexico herself, for while Texas was a province 
of Mexico, according to her laws, the slave who trode 
upon the soil became a freeman. These shining 
beauties of the jewel were brought out as preparatory 
measures, to fit her for joining our free and glorious 
Union. 

What now, on the consummation of this measure, 
could Mexico do ? Could it not have been suffered, 
that after all her wrongs, and the contempt which had 
been put upon her threats and complaints ; after the 
unjust appropriation, by a professed friend and ally, of 
the territory for which she was at war; after thus 
humiliating her pride, and setting at nought her entire 
national existence ; could it not have been suffered, 
that she should manifest some sense of injury, and 
make some exhibition of wounded honor? What 
could the Mexican Minister do but demand his pass- 



12 



ports and return to his government ? What could 
Mexico do, but breaiv off all diplomatic intercourse ? 
Mexico, according to the received laws of nations, 
would have been justified at once in proceeding to 
war ; for she formally announced to our government 
that she would regard the measure of Annexation as 
a declaration of war. 

But Mexico was weak, distracted, powerless to 
contend, and therefore a little harmless blustering 
should at least have been permitted, to assuage her 
irritation. She did not give way even to this. She 
preserved her dignity in the midst of her most burning 
desire of vengeance. When the Consul of the United 
States was directed by the President, to ascertain from 
the Mexican government, whether it would receive an 
Envoy intrusted with full powers to adjust all the 
questions in dispute between the two governments, 
the Minister of Foreign Relations, Peila y Pena, re- 
plied, " That although the Mexican nation was deeply 
injured by the United States, his government was dis- 
posed to receive the Commissioner of the United 
States, who might come with full powers from his 
government, to settle the present dispute in a peaceful, 
reasonable, and honorable manner." 

Here was an opportunity for our government, if it 
had been inclined to peace, to have commenced the 
settlement of the existing difficulties. But instead of 
sending a Commissioner, such as Mexico agreed to 
receive, our government sent a man of no national 
reputation, a mere hack politician, without dignity, and 
without the requisite qualifications to act in such an 
emergency — John Slidell of Louisiana — as Minister 
Plenipotentiary^ to reside near the government of Mex- 
ico. This was a direct and palpable insult to Mexico. 



13 



(t supposed that the governments were on an entirely 
friendly footing. It ignored all causes of complaint 
and injury, and, as might have been anticipated, the 
popular feeling in Mexico would not allow the minister 
to be received. 

The Mexican minister replied to Mr. Slidell's re- 
quest to be accredited as Envoy Extraordinary and 
Minister Plenipotentiary, that " the supreme govern- 
ment of Mexico cannot admit his excellency, Mr. Sli- 
dell, to the exercise of the functions of the mission 
conferred on him by the United States government, 
but that he will have the utmost pleasure in treating 
with Mr. Slidell, as soon as he shall have presented 
credentials, authorizing him expressly and exclusively 
to settle the questions which have disturbed the har- 
mony and good understanding between the two re- 
publics, and which will bring on war between them, 
unless such settlement be effected in a satisfactory 
manner." Why did not our government, if it had 
been really desirous of peace, recall its Minister, and 
send such a Commissioner as Mexico desired ? But 
so far from doing this, it anticipated, and seemed to 
welcome this rejection. Secretary Buchanan writes to 
Mr. Slidell in March, 1846, that in the event of the 
refusal of the Mexican government to receive him in 
the capacity of Resident Minister, he is " so to conduct 
himself, as to throw the whole odium of the failure of 
the negotiation upon the Mexican government. In 
the meantime, in anticipation of the final refusal of 
the Mexican government to receive you, the President 
has ordered the army of Texas to advance and take 
position on the left bank of the Rio Grande, and has 
directed that a strong fleet shall be assembled in the 
Gulf of Mexico." 



14 

Mistaking entirely the temper of the Mexican 
government, which wanted only some little sop to 
its wounded pride, and to gain time, by delay, for 
the passions and prejudices of the people to subside, 
the blundering Slidell writes home to the Secretary 
of State, " that the Mexican people must be convinced, 
by hostile demonstrations, that our differences must 
be settled promptly." And accordingly on the 13th 
of January, 1846, General Taylor was ordered to 
advance to the Rio Grande. 

On the 6th of April, Taylor had mounted a battery 
of eighteen pounders, which, in his own words, " were 
brought to bear upon the public square of Matamoras, 
and within good range for demolishing the town." 
And two weeks after this, an officer in our army wrote 
as follows: " Camp, opposite Matamoras, April 19, 
1846. Our situation here is an extraordinary one. 
Right in the enemy'' s country, actually occupying their 
corn and cotton fields, the people of the soil leaving 
their homes, and we, with a small handful of men, 
marching with colors flying and drums beating, right 
under the very guns of one of their principal cities, — 
displaying the star-spangled banner, as if in defiance, 
under their very nose, — and they, with an army twice 
our size at least, sit quietly down, and make not the 
least resistance — not the first effort to drive the invaders 
off. There is no parallel to it." Truly there is no 
parallel to it. For the army of the United States was 
then encamped on territory which no one can deny 
was doubtful territory : for if Texas had once made a 
claim to it, Mexico claimed it too. It does not matter 
whether the boundary claimed by Texas extended to 
the Rio Grande or not. Was it right for our govern- 
ment to advance an army /or the purpose of occupation, 



15 



upon this disputed ground, while the question of boun- 
dary was unsettled ? Never would it have dared thus 
to send an army into the disputed territory of Maine, 
for this would assuredly have been a cause of war 
with England. And, moreover, Texas was annexed 
with no fixed boundaries ; for the joint resolution ex- 
pressly provides, " that said State shall be formed, 
subject to the adjustment of all questions of boundary 
that may arise with other governments." And for 
more than a hundred years had Mexico possessed 
settlements on both banks of the river. Her Custom- 
houses had never been interfered with by the Texans, 
and in the upper portion of this valley there were 
villages of thousands of inhabitants, who had never 
seen a Texan ofticer exacting any kind of submission 
or respect. The army of the United States v/as en- 
camped on that soil, which to incorporate into the 
Union as a part of Texas, Mr. Benton had declared 
" would be an act of direct aggression upon Mexico^ 
for all the consequences of which the United States 
would stand responsible." What could have been 
expected but collision and bloodshed ? 

On the 26th of April, a party of dragoons attacked 
a superior force of the enemy, and after losing sixteen 
men, were compelled to surrender. This may be 
considered as the actual commencement of the war. 
On receiving news of this event, the President sent a 
message to Congress, recommending the appropriation 
of men and money for the war ; and by an almost 
unanimous vote. Congress passed such a bill, with the 
assertion in its preamble, that " war existed by the act 
of Mexico." This is the besinninj? of that series of 
events, which, at an incredible waste of lives and of 
money, has placed the American army in the capital 
of Mexico. 



16 



In reading impartially this page of liistory, the im- 
pression is forced upon the mind, that a singular spirit 
of blindness and perverse obtuseness, seems to have 
possessed the minds of our rulers. They seem to 
have acted like men who were under the influence of 
some fatality, so that they could not see any way of 
escape, but must march on blindfold to the pit of 
slaughter. 

And thus does all history open to us the retribu- 
tive justice of an overruling Providence. It is in vain, 
when entered upon the career of evil, to say, " Thus 
far." " Sin must pluck on sin," unless there be a true 
repentance. He who would keep the rewards of sin, 
must sin yet farther ; and the fatal, flitting light of cor- 
ruption leads him onward to perdition. Mr. Calhoun, 
the master-spirit of annexation, thinks he could have 
avoided the war, satisfied with the spoils already 
earned for his favorite system. He thinks that " if 
the army had remained at Corpus Christi, there would 
have been no conflict." 

But Providence knows no ifs. Onward must the 
mighty stream advance, and no cunning hand can 
stay its progress. With the cancer of slavery feeding 
upon our system, this war was inevitable. It must 
rush on until the awful voice of Jehovah thunders, 
" Thus far, — here shall thy proud waves be stayed." 
The North, with a fatal spirit of acquiescence, has 
submitted to one encroachment after another upon the 
spirit of freedom ; and now, floated upon the surface, 
it is borne along to share the retribution. There re- 
mains but one way of escape. Slavery, that hydra, 
which but gains in strength from every act of feeble 
opposition and tame submission, must be slain. It is 
smitten of God with madness ; it rushes on with fatal 



17 



blindness and increasing folly. And yet we are 
all foolishly slumbering. At every new victory of 
the accursed system, some feeble cry is raised, " that 
this encroaching evil must be opposed henceforth," 
and then all is still. The Representatives from the 
North, to save some little remnant of self-respect, at 
the last moment when resistance is of no avail, utter 
a feeble, " don't," " we warn you ; " then, when all is 
over, and the evil is consummated, join in the ex- 
ulting shout, and toast " our country, howsoever 
bounded." A war in its defence, however iniquitous, 
a measure however wrong, has but to be entered 
upon, and then they pronounce it right to aid in its 
completion. The assembled wisdom of the nation, 
for a party purpose, vote what they know to be a 
solemn lie. Governors, falHng into the current, exhort 
the peaceful citizens to go forth and fight this battle 
of slavery, appeal to their patriotism, and lend their 
official influence to sanction the deeds of blood. The 
ghosts of men who were killed politically, because 
they dared to contend for what they considered right, 
haunt the miserable sleep of our modern statesmen ; 
and so they dare not move, or cry, or let their voice 
be heard in street or council. And thus stooping to a 
false and corrupting popular standard, crouching with 
fear, they huzza for the glories of our country ; lend 
their aid to furnish supplies of men and money ; give 
their children to pass through the fire of the false God 
of War ; join in the exulting shout of victory ; praise 
the success of our glorious armies, and lament that 
they are too old to join in the noble work of slaying 
Mexicans. 

There is nothing more sorrowful, revealed by this 
present war, than the corrupt state of public opinion 
3 



18 



in regard to right. Everywhere is exhibited the 
lowest standard of moral sentiment. Mere party 
expediency is unblushingly defended as the highest 
rule of action. Every party is seeking to make the 
most for party, out of the sufferings of Mexico, and 
the disgraces of our country. Advocates of a Tariff 
make no opposition to the war, because by a public 
debt, the Tariff is secured. Parties strive to avail 
themselves of the false renown of some military 
Leader. In catering to a false opinion, men whose 
age, experience, and exalted station should raise them 
above the sentiment, speak of " the glory which heroic 
deeds, and unsurpassed valor can acquire." R. C. 
Winthrop says, " our arms have gone on gloriously." 
Mr. Clay speaks of " the long series of glorious tri- 
umphs." Whig mass meetings resolve, "that as 
Whigs and American citizens, we rejoice in the signal 
triumph of our arms in Mexico." And even the 
venerable Mr. Gallatin speaks of " splendid successes, 
and the glory of these military deeds." With a strange 
want of moral discrimination, or a subtle pliancy to a 
low state of moral feeling, which cannot be right, he 
says that " no men are more worthy of admiration, 
better entitled to the thanks of their country, than 
those who after war has once taken place, brave death 
and stake their own lives in the conflict against the 
actual enemy." 

These are the admissions, and these the approvals 
which cause a false halo to remain about war and 
warriors. To admit tha.t glory can belong to men who 
volunteered in such a cause as this ! Who that rightly 
views it, can for one moment thus admit ? What is 
this war, even taking as real and indisputable the 
causes which are alleged in the attempt to justify it ? 



19 



It is a war waged by a strong and vigorous nation, 
with all the choicest means of destruction that money, 
science, and intellect can command, against a feeble 
and distracted people, torn by internal conflict ; a 
helpless sister republic, with no friend or ally ; a mixed 
and half barbarous people, without money, credit, or 
moral strength. 

It is a war of the strong against the weak. It is a 
war waged for money, revenge, and satisfaction. 

In the enjoyment of a boundless prosperity, at 
peace with all the world, with uncounted millions of 
unoccupied acres, with every motive of position and 
honor, of love to man, and duty to the cause of free- 
dom and human rights to protect and aid, to bless 
and strengthen, we stand before the world as the con- 
querors of a weak and unprotected neighbor. 

By a long series of wrongs, we have alienated her 
affections, until at last our very name has become the 
nucleus of hatred ; and opposition to us, is the only 
tie that can unite her divided people. 

We are engaged in a war in which nothing can be 
gained, and every thing prized may be lost. 

We are spending hundreds of millions to get a 
paltry five. 

We are refusing peace, because Mexico will not 
surrender territory which we do not want, and which 
if we obtain, will be the object of contention and 
intestine discord. 

We are laying on blows merely for the sake of 
causing the prostrate foe to cry, " hold, enough." 

The nature of our present position could be dis- 
tinctly seen, if we would dismiss the indefinite idea of 
nations, and look at the contest, as between two indi- 



20 



viduals with human form corresponding with their 
state. 

Look at one with stalwart arm, and with the best 
weapons. Every advantage is his of quick eye, 
strong hmb, and the protection which skill in training 
and all the science of defence and attack can give. 
Beneath him hes his prostrate foe, an imbecile though 
stubborn cripple, subject to dizziness, withered in the 
arm, and partly blind. He has been prostrated by 
the vigorous blows of his antagonist, who now with 
foot upon his breast, commands him to sue for peace. 
He will not confess that he is conquered. 

" Consent that I shall take from you all I wish, and 
I will let you go," cries out the strong man. 

" Never will 1 consent," says the other. 

Then the strong man proceeds to lop off a hmb, 
and again cries out, " consent." 

" Never," is the answer. 

" Then," he exclaims, " 1 shall proceed to attack 
your vital parts, and by slow degrees, shall exhaust 
your life." 

" Well, be it so, extinction is better than dishonor." 

The glory to be acquired in such a contest, is the 
glory of our arms in this present war. And it is a 
strange hallucination which speaks of splendid suc- 
cesses, glorious triumphs. All the terms to charac- 
terize its nature, should be drawn from the cock-pit 
and the butcher's shambles. If this were done by 
those parents who read to their little ones the accounts 
of battles ; by those who profess to be Christian edi- 
tors and conservators of the public morals; if the 
volunteer soldier were regarded as a wilful murderer, 
the foe to virtue, peace and righteousness, and so 
the foe to his country, instead of its friend ; if the 



21 



successful warrior were spoken of with pity, as de- 
serving tears and prayers, not shouts and praises ; if 
we could still associate with the person of the soldier 
his trade of human butcher, and look at the blood as 
it stains his garments, and keep in our nostrils the 
scent of human gore ; no longer should we speak of 
" splendid successes," or of " troops covered with im- 
mortal glory." 

If there is any glory in this present war, we must 
give it to the defeated, broken Mexican. When the 
position of that Republic was that of one " despoiled, 
outraged, and contemned," her persistent firmness 
deserves our praise. She could not be brought to 
treat for peace, while a threatening hand was extended 
over her. And when at last she did consent, when 
opposing factions had weakened her arm, with her 
army scattered, her treasury empty, her means ex- 
hausted, and her most important cities in the enemy's 
power ; when every star of hope had sunk from the 
firmament, her noble refusal to give up the provinces 
which claimed still her protection, deserves to receive 
its meed of glory. It is a flash of light which reveals 
an unconquerable spirit, and is worthy of better days, 
and shall be blessed with better days. Her answer to 
our demand of New Mexico was this : " The govern- 
ment cannot consent to cede New Mexico, whose 
inhabitants have manifested their desire to make a 
part of the Mexican family, with more enthusiasm 
than any other part of the Republic. These merito- 
rious Mexicans, abandoned to their fate during some 
administrations, often without protection even to pre- 
serve them from the incursions of the savages, have 
been the most truly patriotic of Mexicans, because, 



22 



forgetting their domestic complaints, they have re- 
membered nothing but their desire to be of the Mexi- 
can family ; and many, exposing and sacrificing them- 
selves to the vengeance of the invaders, have rebelled 
against them ; and when their plans were discovered 
or disconcerted, and their conspiracies frustrated, 
have again conspired. And would any government 
sell such Mexicans as a herd of cattle ? Never ! Let 
the nationality of the rest of the Republic perish for 
them ! Let us perish together ! " 

Yes, this is the spirit, and these are the people, 
contending for their homes and national existence, 
about whom glory dwells, rather than with those who 
would force them to submit to a foreign rule. Glory ! 
no glory crowns our country's»brow these many years. 
Once she stood before the world with the broad 
banner floating to the breeze, on which was inscribed 
the glorious motto, " All men are entitled to life, 
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." The prize 
was won, after reddening many a field with the best 
blood of beating, human hearts. And then — ay, 
what then ? 

These men, strong in the battle for freedom, calling 
upon the Lord of hosts ; these men, brave, prudent, 
honored, form a compact to rivet yet stronger the 
fetters of the slave ; binding all, even the sons of New 
England, those who shall tread her free mountains, 
bathing their summits in God's free air ; those who 
should till her fields, and breathe her atmosphere ; 
binding them all by solemn oath and perpetual con- 
tract, to spend their blood and treasure, should there 
come the need, in perpetuating a system full of wick- 
edness, black as the open throat of hell itself. 



23 



This is the glory which this war heaps up. It 
bears inscribed upon its banner, " The extension of 
human slavery." 

Look at it ! With a country abounding in every 
natural resource, with men and money, with every 
improvement in art, with all the appliances of science, 
industry, and skill, how do we use them ? 

To win the nations to the love of freedom ? To 
protect the weak, and aid the suffering ? To advance 
the happiness and comfort of our race, or even to 
spread the peaceful pursuits of commerce ? To aid 
industry, and bring together distant regions ? 

Oh, no, this is not our glory. 

With untold millions of acres, — now desolate in 
their solitude, or roamed over by the wild beast of 
the desert, — sending up to the noon-day sun and the 
open firmament of Heaven their pleading voice for 
the hand of man to be laid upon their bosom, that they 
may give back to him the blessings of sun, and dew, 
and rain, and the fertilizing influences of the lapse of 
ages; with these belonging to us, there are across 
the water — yes, in our homes, our streets, our cities, 
thousands upon ten-thousands, listless, starving, dy- 
ing, who would rejoice with joy unspeakable, to pos- 
sess and till these fair and fertile acres. 

Oh, glorious nation, which sells these broad lands 
to the speculator, and expends the money in war ! 

Glorious nation, which gives 160 acres as a bounty 
for murder, and cannot give one rod to him who is 
dying for work ! 

Glorious government! which can spend millions, 
with all the appliances of skill and science ; the ener- 
gies of aspiring youth and noble manhood ; all the 
wealth of a mighty nation for years to come, — to 



subdue a weak, divided, miserable country, while a 
deaf ear is turned to a whole people of noble-hearted 
workmen dying for bread. " No money can be given 
for help, because the money is needed for the war ! " 
No money for charity, none for justice, none for the 
payment of claims long due to our own citizens, none 
for internal commerce, for science, for the promotion 
of the means of human comfort ; all must be taken to 
pay the hirelings in this war of slavery ! Such is the 
glory that encircles our nation's brow ! 

And how can the man of discerning intellect and 
sound moral perception, use the words splendor, glory, 
immortality, in connexion with a cause such as this ? 
It is the cause that consecrates or curses ; that crowns 
with the chaplet of a true renown, or brands with a 
fiery mark of Hell. 

For deeds of individual daring, you have but to go 
to every painted, howling, and demoniac savage tribe. 
And what, like the Pirate's deck, has exhibited a 
fierce, unflinching courage, when the banded crew 
fought for money and the lust of blood ? A furious 
zeal excites every breast, and death is welcomed with 
a thoughtless joy. 

For thousands of years, in every cHme, and under 
every sky, glory has been sought in deeds of blood ; 
and to seek it thus to-day, in contest with an inferior 
foe, is cheap, and mean, and dastard, to the extreme. 

Yet what have we heard ? Not the voice of praise 
from one, but a universal chorus of exultation. Pro- 
fessed Ministers of the meek and peaceful Jesus, 
thanking the merciful Creator, that the national feel- 
ing of 'love of victory,' had been so abundantly 
gratified ; professed Christian Newspapers, spreading 
forth the sickening detail of wholesale, scientific mur- 



25 



der, with fulsome epithets of praise ; grave Legislators, 
— Whigs and Democrats, — those who denounce and 
those who defend the war, vicing with each other in 
votes of thanks to their marauding, blood-stained coun- 
trymen. Every day in the journals that go into every 
corner, penetrate into every house, and fall under the 
eye of young and old, woman and man, wise and 
foolish, are to be seen the words of praise, the ex- 
pressions of joyful admiration, the epithets that belong 
to deeds beloved of God, and worthy of his obedient 
children. 

In one column is seen the war denounced ; in 
another, its voluntary prosecutors, its willing instru- 
ments, hired for a few cents per day or a shining 
epaulet, to kill and be killed, are praised and glorified. 

The war is wrong, but they who wage its battles 
are right. The cause is infamous ; the men who love 
the cause, are heroes. 

The deeds are accursed, and their end is evil ; but 
the willing doers of the mighty wrongs, are worthy of 
eternal memory. 

Such is the low standard of moral estimate, the 
utter want of manly, christian principle, exhibited by 
the progress of the present war. 

Another fact, worthy of notice in this connexion, is 
the spirit of apathy and indifference which prevails 
among us all, even those who are opposed to the war, 
both in its cause, origin and prosecution. It is wor- 
thy of our especial wonder. 

And yet why should we wonder at this, when a 
greater wrong, and of which this is one incidental and 
ultimate consequence, has for many years been borne 
so patiently, and has failed to enlist such an earnest 
opposition, as to heave it from its base ? 
4 



26 



We have seen the iniquitous system of Slavery, 
which at the end of the last century had become so 
unprofitable, that the advocates of emancipation were 
many and powerful, by the impulse of a foreign mar- 
ket for its products, grown to a gigantic size, lord it 
over all our government, dictate the policy of the 
country, trample upon that Constitution by which 
alone its power is upheld, stand forth unbiushingly 
and claim homage from us all, and an equal right with 
that which is good of protection and extension. We 
have seen this system leading to the violation of trea- 
ties, the appropriation of territory claimed by a sister 
Republic, and plunging at last our nation into a war 
of conquest. 

We have seen, for eighteen months, the work of 
mutilation, crime and death go on, each advancing 
step sunk deeper in human gore. By every mail has 
come some new deed of violence. Cities have been 
attacked, and the cry of helpless women and children 
has risen, amid the shrieks and agony of death and dis- 
honor. The living have gone forth, and dead corpses 
encased in lead have returned. Thousands of widows 
and orphans have sent up to the heavens their pitiful 
wail. Blood and treasure have been poured forth as 
water. Continually has been the cry, more living to 
replace the dead ; more silver and gold, to spend in 
the work of conquest ; more means to penetrate into 
" the enemy's vital parts." 

And yet all is quiet as under the most perfect 
despotism. There is no united appeal, which should 
make the rulers tremble ; no thronging voices of 
petition, no indignant rebuke, no prayer, " Lord, how 
long." All is still, as though a polluted crust of sel- 
fishness, hard and icy, had bound down all the gener- 



"-li 



ous, noble instincts of the human heart. All is still, 
as if Napoleon were our Emperor, and files of ' Impe- 
rial Guards,' with bayonets fixed, were ranged before 
our doors. Oh, for some Peter the Hermit, to kindle 
the fires of enthusiasm ! to traverse this land, to suffer 
even the pains of martyrdom, to rouse us from this 
heavy sleep ! 

There would seem to be no hope of our awakening, 
if the developments now taking place, fail to stir us. 

The evidence is clear, in the face of all denial, that 
this, from the first, has been a war of conquest. No 
conditions of peace have been offered, except coupled 
with the demand of surrender of Territory. This is 
shown to be the meaning of the favorite phrase, 
" conquering a peace.'' Fight until the enemy gives 
up the Territory we demand ; beat him until he accepts 
our conditions, is the unmanly stand that has from the 
first been taken. 

Get possession of the enemyh territory and keep it, 
has been the soul of every instruction. 

When Commodore Sloat was sent to the Pacific, only 
two montlis after the war had commenced, his instruc- 
tions were, to obtain speedy possession of California ; 
so that in the event of peace being made on the basis 
of actual possession, we should be found in actual 
possession of California. Thus is disclosed the fact, 
that no sooner had the war begun, than the scheme 
was laid of acquiring Territory. 

The instructions say, and with an entire uncon- 
sciousness of the latent baseness, " The object of the 
United States, is, under its rights as a belligerent 
nation, to possess itself entirely of Upper California. 
The object of the United States has reference to ulti- 
mate peace with Mexico ; and if at the pence, the basis 



28 



of the uti possidetis shall be established, the Govern- 
ment expects, through your forces, to be found in 
actual possession of Upper California." 

This policy of conquest, at first denied, though 
secretly acted upon, and the desire of which has con- 
tinually and progressively increased, with the success 
of our armies, is now openly proclaimed in the last 
Message of the President. He says, " I cannot doubt 
that we should secure and render available the con- 
quests which we have already made ; and that with 
this view, we should hold and occupy, by our naval 
and military forces, all the ports, towns, cities and 
provinces, now in our occupation, or which may fall 
hereafter into our possession." 

In accordance with this policy are the resolu- 
tions introduced by Mr. Dickinson in the Senate, 
which begin thus : " Resolved, that true policy re- 
quires the Government of the United States to 
strengthen its political and commercial relations upon 
this continent by the annexation of such contiguous 
territory as may conduce to that end, and may be 
justly obtained." 

And everything now coming from the seat of gov- 
ernment, shows that the schemes of ambition, grown 
huge by the conquests it has fed upon, look now with 
disdain upon single provinces, and contemplate the 
entire subjugation of Mexico as a province, or its 
absorption as a territory by the United States. 

Even Mr. Calhoun, who has heretofore shown no 
lack of love for increased dominion, is alarmed and 
seeks to fall back: He little knew the spirit he was 
rousing. He little knew that for the safety of our 
institutions, the spirit of foreign conquest ought long 
ago to have been checked. 



29 



But Dr. Channing wrote years ago, '^ Did this 
country know itself, or were it disposed to profit 
by self-knowledge, it would feel the necessity of 
laying an immediate curb on its passion for ex- 
tended territory. It would not trust itself to new 
acquisitions. It would shrink from the temptation 
to conquest. We are a restless people, prone to 
encroachment, impatient of the ordinary laws of pro- 
gress ; less anxious to consolidate and perfect, than to 
extend our institutions ; more ambitious of spreading 
ourselves over a wide space, than of diffusing beauty 
and fruitfulness over a narrower field. Possessed of 
a domain, vast enough for the growth of ages, it is 
time for us to stop in the career of acquisition and 
conquest. Already endangered by our greatness, we 
cannot advance without imminent peril to our insti- 
tutions, union, prosperity, virtue, and peace." The 
truth of these words, even Calhoun seems ready 
now to acknowledge. He has found himself far out- 
run, and now, spent in breath, he pants and flutters 
with exhaustion. Too late does he see the danger 
which he has been one of the most fool-hardy in pro- 
voking. He has aroused spirits of the vasty deep, 
spirits of fire, earth and hell, which words cannot now 
allay or beat back. 

And yet we are all indiflerent ! We feel as if we 
had little concern in these events, big with our own 
fate, and the fate of our children. 

The open avowal of the rulers of this mighty 
nation, to push on their conquests even to the utter 
annihilation of the foe, if that foe does not yield to a 
conqueror's terms, awakens no deep voice of remon- 
strance from the nation's heart ; falls upon dull, cold 
ears. 



30 



Truly do we seem almost to have entered into that 
fearful state, when our eyes are blinded and our ears 
are stopped, lest at any time, we should see with our 
eyes and hear with our ears, turn from our evil 
courses, and so escape the deserved judgments of the 
God of universal justice. 

If this indifference could have been reached by the 
appeals of principle, it would seem as if long since it 
would have been disturbed. If this nation had a 
conscience, that conscience could not but have been 
moved. If it had a soul of honor, it could not but 
have prostrated itself in shame to the dust. 

But principle, honor, conscience, seem dead, and 
men quietly sneer at their appeal. No glow of virtu- 
ous enthusiam warms the general soul, no pulse of 
right beats in the universal heart. 

Therefore, according to the laws of God's Provi- 
dence, by which those influences successively proceed, 
adapted to the state of a nation, we are now entering 
into that phase of external and material evils, in 
which every violation of the law of love and right 
must ultimate and complete itself. 

We are beginning to witness the effects ; a degraded 
moral sentiment, a lust of power, a devotion to mere 
party good, a generation trained in the atmosphere of 
carnage and military glory ; a standing army large as 
the despots of Europe ; a flow of specie to a foreign 
land ; an increasing public debt ; the consolidation of 
power in the hands of the Executive ; the exaltation 
of warlike chiefs to places of civil power, and politi- 
cal partisans to military rank ; the decline of public 
credit ; the difficulties of financial embarrassment ; the 
imposition of taxes ; an increased frontier to protect 
from savage inroads ; and the seemingly inevitable 



31 



necessity of furthering the extension of human slav- 
ery. 

The false and foolish idea that slavery is or ever 
has been profitable to the North, seems about to be 
met by the Providence of God, revealing in loss and 
disgrace, in far spreading ruin and failure, that a 
violation of nature's law of justice, must suffer its just 
reward. 

It is thus permitted that the success of evil shall be 
its punishment. And instead of triumphing, could we 
see aright, we might, as true patriots, rather be called 
upon to mourn, at every victory that has been won 
upon a foreign soil. 

We are but just entering upon that state of retri- 
bution, which is not arbitrarily induced, but advances 
step by step, through the instrumentality of blinded 
and willing agents. One yawning gulf after another 
opens before, so gradually, so imperceptibly, that the 
rash and thoughtless know their danger, only when 
danger has become a dreadful reality. The prophet is 
not listened to. He whom I have before quoted, said 
with a warning foresight, " If by our advances we put 
the colonies of England in new peril, with what face 
can we oppose her occupation of Cuba ? Suppose 
her, with that magnificent island in her hands, to 
command the Mexican Gulf and the mouths of the 
Mississippi ; will the Western States find compensation 
for this formidable neighborhood, in the privilege of 
flooding Texas with slaves ? " 

There is here a subject of fearful import. It ac- 
quires an aspect of reality when we consider our 
present condition. Those " straws which show which 
way the wind blows," may be seen floating by in the 
air. Already is there talk of the power of England in 



32 



the Gulf, which is to be made a lever for action, in the 
same manner as in the annexation of Texas. An 
article in a leading New York paper, not long ago, 
may give us food for reflection in connexion with this. 
The writer says : " We express a settled conviction, 
when we say that, excited as the mihtary spirit of this 
country is by the war with Mexico, and confident in 
the prowess of her arms, a war with England in a 
purely national quarrel, would be welcomed by all the 
stirring blood of the Republic, and that a call for 
volunteers in such a war, would bring into the field 
such a host as has never before been marshalled under 
the American banner ; eager for the combat with 
foemen worthy of their steel, and on fields where 
pestilence and climate wage not their unequal, ob- 
scure, but fatal warfare. Looking then as we do 
with certain assurance upon the near probability of a 
war with England, we are most unwilling to see her 
acquiring such a foothold in the Gulf of Mexico as 
the possession of Cuba would give her. And we 
have the most entire conviction, that any attempt on 
her part to acquire that colony, would furnish the 
clearly national ground of quarrel, which would unite 
the people of the United States in opposition to her 
project." 

Now, with the existence of slavery in our country as 
a controlling power ; with a standing army, a military 
spirit among the nation, and an ambitious demagogue 
to play upon the passions of the people ; with the false 
notions of patriotism that now prevail ; with the doc- 
trine that once engaged in a war, no matter for what 
cause, or how brought about, every lover of his coun- 
try must aid the Executive in prosecuting it to the 
end, according to his direction, — a war, with some 



33 



of the old nations of the world, is as certain as the 
law of gravitation in the physical universe. But in 
whatever form retribution comes, whether war with 
England, or among ourselves, it matters not ; sufficient 
that it has always come, and must come continually, if 
there is a God. We do not believe this, till it comes 
upon us, but this does not alter the facts. 

Who, ten years ago, would have believed what is 
now the fact? Who would not have said to him who 
should have declared the history, word for word, event 
for event, vote for vote, and battle for battle — who 
would not have said, " What, is this nation a dog ? 
It cannot so soon become corrupted by the false 
maxims of despotic governments ; it cannot so render 
itself the reproach of the humanity and true civiliza- 
tion of the world." 

But so it is. In this age of improvement, and of 
lofty ideas, when everything seemed looking to the 
blessings of peace and a higher civilization; when 
lovers of their race were seeking how they might 
break down the barriers of national antipathy, and 
spread the blessings of peace, and cement the bonds 
of a universal brotherhood; when the principles of 
cooperation and love were beginning to obtain a place 
in the hearts of the rising generation ; when Chris- 
tianity, in its practical truths seemed about to descend 
into the lives of men, and shed abroad its heaUng and 
ennobling influences, we find ourselves engaged in a 
foreign war, the end of which no one can discern. 

Its consequences, now beginning to be felt, will cast 
a long shadow upon our future, even if peace were 
now established. Its burdens must fall eventually on 
the people, the toiling husbandman, the laborers for 
wages, the mechanic, the artisan, those who work for 
5 



34 



their daily bread, and earn that bread by the sweat ot* 
manly brows, and the weariness of female hands; 
upon these must fall, at last, the heavy burden. Out 
of the free labor of the North must come the means 
to pay these heavy debts. Hand and foot are we 
bound to serve our masters, unless the soul of free- 
dom once more comes to dwell among us, and her 
angel wings fan us, and wake us from our drowsy 
sleep. 

A traditionary freedom will not save us. It will not 
do to praise our Fathers and build their sepulchres. 
Worse for us that we have such an inheritance, if we 
spend it foolishly, and are unable to appreciate its 
worth. Sad for us, if having served as the scaffolding 
only to the glorious temple of universal freedom, we 
should be at last pulled down. Sad, if the Genius of 
a true humanity, beholding us with tearful eyes from 
the mount of vision, shall fold his wings in sorrowing 
pity, and repeat the strain, " Oh land of Washington, 
how often would I have gathered thy children to- 
gether, as a hen doth gather her brood under her 
wings, and ye would not ! Behold your house is left 
unto you desolate." 

But a moral deformity yet more hideous, is re- 
vealed to us in this war. Not only do we see indif- 
ference, and a wrong estimate of greatness, but a 
positive assertion of principles subversive of every 
principle of righteousness, and indicating that lowest 
stage of degradation, that degree of spiritual bhnd- 
ness, which, groping about in the light of noon-day, 
sees not ; and walking boldly in the darkness of mid- 
night, lighted by an internal fire of selfish lust, claims 
to see. This war has been defended, and is upheld 
by many, on the ground of Anglo-Saxon superiority, 



35 



and the " extending of the area of freedom." It is 
our destiny it is said — so it has always been, and so 
must it be — that the stronger shall overpower the 
weaker, and the cause of humanity must progress, if 
need be, through bloodshed and ruin, through the de- 
struction of that which " is ready to perish ; " and it 
is the plan of Providence that the blood of the strong 
and young shall be infused into the old and weak, and 
thus shall advance the cause of Human Progress. 

I need not remind you, that when the fiat of the 
Southern Slaveholders, who have controlled the desti- 
nies of this country, went forth that Texas should be 
annexed, many of our Northern Politicians, who had 
hitherto opposed this measure, dropped all their oppo- 
sition, and were found shouting among the loudest, 
for the " lone star of freedom." They made a virtue 
of a pressing necessity, and while the leading advo- 
cate at the South was upholding the measure in the 
eyes of the world as absolutely needful for the pre- 
servation of " peculiar domestic institutions," his 
followers at the North were putting forth this plea of 
" extending the area of freedom." And under this 
mantle, the attempt is made to hide the evil of this 
war, following as a necessary consequence of the first 
"extension of the area." 

How can we characterize aright such a fatal blind- 
ness to all the principles of right and justice ! How 
cause the light to shine into that eye which has 
reached this stage of total bhndness ! How argue, 
when the shallowest of sophistry suffices to justify the 
worst of crimes ! 

It is a glorious thought that the all-merciful Cre- 
ator overrules for good the sins and errors of his 
creatures, and in his all-embracing love, makes the 



56 



very wrath of man to minister to his praise. Glorious 
vision, to look back upon the wrecks of ambition, 
passion, crime, and folly, and behold over them all, 
and through them all, advancing the cause of humanity 
and love. Inspiring hope, to look forward into the 
future, and rejoice that in spite of all that wickedness 
and injustice can do, — the intrigues of the selfish, the 
corrupt ambition of the demagogue, the pliancy of 
the thoughtless, and the stubbornness of the self- 
willed, — in spite of all, truth and justice and love 
shall triumph, because these are of God, and the 
kingdom of God shall come ! 

But, voluntarily to make use of war and slavery as 
instruments for good, to band men together for slaugh- 
ter, to join in the exulting shout as ranks of brothers 
are mowed down in heaps, to " let loose the dogs of 
war," to awaken the lust of conquest, to set at nought 
the commands of God and the common bonds of 
simple morality, to supply the means of destruction 
and of death, to look approvingly upon the mighty 
iniquities of a conquering foe, and urge on the instru- 
ments of vengeance and of blood — to do all this in 
the name of Freedom and of God, leaves no deeper 
gulf in the abyss of Evil ! Is it then come to this, 
that " might does make right ? " Go thou who makest 
thus thy infamous plea, and join the conquering hosts 
of Roman valor. Join the despoilers of Poland, and 
the armies of Nicholas in the mountains of Circassia. 
Yea, go to the deck of the Brazilian slave-ship, 
manned by American sailors, and tear from his coun- 
try, the poor, degraded Congo, that he may be nursed 
in the bosom of modern Civilization, and be raised 
in the scale of humanity. The law will call you 
Pirate ! But what of that ? Say to the rose-water 



37 



moralist and soft-hearted philanthropist, that you are 
on the crusade of freedom and righteousness, and let 
the cap of Hberty be borne aloft before you, and hear 
the angelic host raising the exulting anthem. Glory to 
God ! Ay, go to the mount of Calvary, and take thy 
place, not with the weeping women, who look up 
with tearful eyes, and mourn the death of the Son of 
God ; not with his fainting disciples, who far off mourn 
their master's loss ; but join the crowd who wag their 
head in triumph, and offer the last piercing spear, 
because, through His death, in the blessed Providence 
of God, shall come the salvation of a world ! 

He who with claim of far-seeing statesmanship 
or exaltation above vulgar estimate, defends this war 
on the ground of the good that will redound to the 
cause of human progress, would consistently be found 
among the murderers of the Prince of Peace. There 
is no crime or wrong in the whole catalogue of in- 
iquities, which might not thus be justified. The 
old man who can no longer use or enjoy his wealth 
is not safe, because if he is removed, the plans of 
Providence to diffuse his riches, will then be an- 
swered ; and so it is right to murder him. How 
much more worthy of the Statesman of this age, the 
motto, " No political change is worth being purchased 
by a single drop of human blood ! " The philosophy 
of carnage and of the battle-field, is rude and worthy 
of the restless age of boyhood of the human race ! 
In that school, Alexander, Caesar, were as wise as we 
are, and " the Man of Destiny " should be our Messiah ! 
We must turn back the tide of God's advancing flood 
of truth, erase the long list of peaceful, godlike heroes, 
and, to take a broad philosophical view, go to the 
means and instruments of the New Zealand savage, 



38 



gifted with the hght of modern science in strategy 
and engineering ! Deeper is the response from every 
heart to the words of the poet : 



"the road the human being travels, 

That, on which blessing comes and goes, doth follow 
The river's course, the valley's playful windings, 
Curves round the corn-field and the hill of vines, 
Honoring the holy bounds of property ! 

There exists 
A higher than the warrior's escellenae. 
The vast and sudden deeds of violence. 
Adventures wild and wonders of the moment. 
These are not they that generate the Calm, 
The Blissful, and the enduring Mighty." 

To strike, to fight, to progress by prowess of the 
hand and arm, are but external means, the rehc of 
that beastly nature which we leave behind, as we as- 
cend the heights of wisdom and of love, in which alone 
true power resides. It is but shallow vision to see in 
these means the substance. It is but shallow to over- 
look the mightier energies that belong to industry, to 
the power of up-building labor, of peaceful efforts for 
the good of man. War is but a vulgar instrument of 
destruction, and constructs nothing that shall last for 
the good of the race. War can subdue men, so that 
they shall remain while force is over them, the slaves 
of fear ; but never yet made a cooperative friend in 
him whom it attacked. 

W^ho, with the opening career revealed to this age, 
of discoveries in the realm of nature, — in the heav- 
ens above and the earth beneath, — the wonders of 
interchange of thought and the conquest over space 
and time, and the rude elements which annoy the 
savage ; the increased means of blessing through all 
the outbranching streams of social hfe ; the new ave- 
nues open to ambition, the restless explorer, and the 



39 



busy planner ; — who, with this vision, denied to the 
dwellers of an earlier age, could have looked for a 
return to the worn-out maxims of godless politicians, 
and the renewed employment of a shallow means of 
action, carried out in complete perfection, only among 
the more degenerate races of mankind ? 

It is indeed strange, and the blindness itself seems 
but a part of that retribution, which continually attends 
all human deeds. That is the last stage, which defends 
itself and will not see its evil, but glories in its shame ; 
which doeth evil, on the plea that good may come. 

" But good will come out of it, will there not ? " 
Undoubtedly. 

•' Nevertheless, O sinner, harden not thine heart in evil j 

Nor plume thee in imaginary triumph, because thou art not valueless as vile ; 

Because thy dark abominations add lustre to the Clarity of Light; 

Because a wonder-working alchemy draineth elixir out of poisons; 

Because the same firery volcano that scorcheth and ravageth a continent, 

Hath in the broad blue bay cast up some petty island ; 

For sin is still sin ; a blot on the glory of creation, 

Which justice must wipe out. 

Sin is a loathsome leprosy, fretting the white robes of innocence ; 

A rottenness, eating out the heart of the royal cedars of Lebanon ; 

A rent in the sacred veil, whereby God left his temple ; 

Therefore, consider thyself, thou that dost not sorrow for thy guilt." 

Let us take heed, my friends, that this current of 
evil shall not quietly sweep us along, without the 
noblest of all resistances, tlie resistance of moral 
strength. If there is not virtue in using every nerve 
against this war, and against its originating cause — 
human slavery — in this professedly free and enlight- 
ened country, then in vain have been all the lessons of 
the past. In vain is our talk of the age of light and 
progress, and " the good time coming." In vain is 
our hope of a purer state of love, our anticipation of 
the reign of Christ's kingdom of peace and good-will. 



40 



In vain are our dreams of a better age, our vision of 
a free and happy country, where knowledge and art, 
where science and reUgion, where poetry and beauty 
shall abide and bless. They are all in vain, mere 
mists which the burning sun shall soon cause to dis- 
appear ; and most foolish and miserable of all men, 
are they who thus hope, and pray and labor. 



SJ) 



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